Annotation:Fair Woman (The)

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X:1 T:Fair Woman, The T:Ben bhán M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Andante" B:Bunting - General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland (1796, No. 23) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D D2F A2B|d2d (c2A)|d2d c2A|T(B3{AB}[E2A2]) (B/c/)| d2d cBA|A2 (G F2)(D|E2) (G F2)D|T[C3E3] D2 B/c/| d2d cBA|[D2A2] ([EG]F2) (D|E2)(G F2)(D|E3) D3||



FAIR WOMAN, THE (Ben/bean bhán). AKA - "It is not in thy power fair maid." Irish, Air (6/8 time). D Major (Bunting, Goodman): B Flat Major (Clinton). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Bunting): AB (Goodman). "The Fair Woman" is categorized as a "spinning song" by Fleishmann and Ó Súilleabháin in their exhaustive survey of Irish tunes. The tune was entered into vol. 2 (p. 146) of the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper wikipedia:James_Goodman_(musicologist)" as "It is not in thy power fair maid," with "The Fair Woman" given as an alternate title (probably copied from J.T. Surenne's collection). Goodman's title comes from a song by D. Weir, set to the air "Fair Woman," which can be found in R.A. Smith's Irish Minstrel (1825 p. 36).

It is not in thy power, fair maid,
To frown; whene're thou triest
Well I can see, beneath thy frown,
Lurk smiles, the sweetest, slyest.
Thy heart can only cherish love,
Such love that nought can shake it;
Betraying could not make it hate,
Unkindness soon would break it.

Thomas Moore set tune tune to verses beginning "Turn thy wand'ring steps, fair maid," published in his Selection of Irish Melodies (1807).


Additional notes



Printed sources : - Bunting (General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland), 1796; No. 23, p. 12. Clinton (Gems of Ireland: 200 Airs), 1841; No. 169, p. 86. Crosby (The Irish Muscial Repository), London, c. 1808. Surenne (Songs of Ireland), 1854; p. 65 [1].






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